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| On the beach in Delaware |
48 degrees/clearing skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road
Norienne and Jim sent the above picture taken on the East Coast recently. Friday was their anniversary and they opted to spend it on the beach, enjoying nature's beauty.
Thanks for the pictures and congratulations, you two!
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| I believe that's a horseshoe crab. (We don't have many in the UP.) |
There was a parade of mini munchkins marching through my office at one time or the other. As my good friend, Kermit, (my principal and fellow camp owner of many many years ago) used to say, "I spend 95% of my time working with 5% of the students."
Kermit was spot on, only I'd say 98% of my time has been spent with 2% of the students.
I'm going to brag on the parents and/or guardians of those Bobkitties with whom I've spent time. ALL, without fail, have been positive and even grateful when we are forced to have that conversation. There's been no anger, much concern, and lots of gratitude for the phone call or meeting.
It says a lot about the parents of my babies. It tells me that though we may occasionally disagree, we're all playing on the same team with the same goal in mind, the well being of their child.
I got a call the other day from the K4 (Early Childhood) teacher asking for assistance. She's a wonderful educator, but a rookie. As luck would have it, there are three or four boys in her class that just turned four in August and are very immature. Simply put, they are still babies.
It was after lunch, Mr. P had had a trying morning, and I was in no mood to cajole two four year olds to sleep.
Hmm, nice guy or mean guy? Perhaps the good cop/bad cop thing would work.
In the end, I knelt down and gathering both rug rats in my arms, asked them to do me a favor. Since this grandpa was sooooo old and soooo tired, would they each take a nap for me so I could finish out the day?
The little guys nodded their heads up and down.
Oh, to be asked to take a nap for Mr. P! It was a responsibility not to be taken lightly.
Each lay down on his cot and within seconds, were sound asleep.
We've not been without our antics in the front office this past week. It's been chilly, sometimes cold. Since the central heat has yet to be turned on, a few of the classrooms and office are a bit nippy.
One of our frozen sixth grade teachers, Kim, came to the office and found that our school secretary, Holly, had a small electric space heater churning away under her desk.
What? Holly was hoarding the only heat source in the entire building while everyone else froze? How insensitive can anyone be?
Suddenly, Kim sprinted around the counter, fell to the floor, and snuggled next to the space heater.
Golly we laughed.
Kim is a master teacher of over twenty-five years, one of the best educators I've ever worked with. Who says education has to be all work and no play, even for teachers!
Sargie was busy this past week. She had an appointment earlier in Iron Mountain and was able to pick Hambone up from school and spend time with him and Daddy.
Sargie and sister, Nancy, went to Escanaba later in the week for a girl's day. Sargie said she had so much fun shopping and spending time with Nancy. She also brought me home a dinner plate-sized sweet roll. Cutting it into sections, I've enjoyed parts of it each morning for breakfast.
Mom is still in the hospital recovering. Her heart and organs are strong, but she's having difficulty healing from her recent procedures.
We talk to Mom each and every day. Her hope is that she'll be able to leave the hospital in the next few days and spend time in the local rehab center regaining her strength so that she can eventually return to her apartment.
Sargie and I will be traveling to Indiana to visit Mom for a few days in a couple of weeks.
Andy returned from Africa a couple of days ago. He's been off the coast of Equitorial Guinea moving huge oil rigs. After a well deserved rest, my youngest son will be leaving for some far off distant continent. I've heard places like Tobago and Australia mentioned.
The garden is wrapping up for the year. I picked a large load of spaghetti and oversized zucchini squash to take to Yooper Brother Mark and Sheri. Another load is picked and ready to give to Sasha and Alex.
Sargie and I don't care for spaghetti squash. I just enjoy growing them to give away.
I've been working on a load of firewood each night this past week. Hopefully, I'll finish this trailer full today and tow it back to the plant to be filled again. I'm thinking three more loads should give us what we need for the winter with a month's emergency supply left over.
We enjoyed a wonderful fish fry last night with Mark and Sheri. Macrea was in town on business and was able to join us. As Christmas letters so often state, "A good time was had by all."
I'm going to head outside and try to finish working up that trailer of wood this morning. Later, Sargie and I will make our way to the Rhinelander to purchase the siding for the garden shed. I think we're going to go with the imitation cedar shake panels.
It's costs almost twice as much as some of the more conventional siding, but since we've already spent close to the national debt on the pond and garden house, why scrimp now?
There's a fall festival in Iron River later today and I hear Macrea and Grady may be driving over to attend the festivities.
I may let Grandma Sargie go with them while I stay at home for some R&R. Pawpaw's tired. Oh well, just one more week, a mere five school days, and I'll be handing the reins of Bobkitty Land over to someone else. Other than going in on the following Monday to introduce the new dean, my tenure as captain of the good ship, Bobkitty, will be over.
I imagine I'll be writing tomorrow morning. I've missed snapping pictures and penning my early morning missives. It's time to get life back to normal on Pentoga Road.
Until then, I'd better get to work. There's firewood to work up and siding to buy.
After all, a man's work is never done.
So are the tales from Pentoga Road...
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